Help - Crippling Debts! Is Bankruptcy The Best Way Forward For Me?

dalip

Max i did warn charlie about your sense of humour,but for once you are on your best behaviour:D . Well done you:rotfl:

maxmycardagain

dalip wrote: »

Max i did warn charlie about your sense of humour,but for once you are on your best behaviour:D . Well done you:rotfl:

I see charlie as a genuinly "in a state" case, in need of help, support and advice

and not having eleven BTL that she doesnt want to lose..... :rolleyes:

LilyBart

I just wanted to add that should you accidentally pick up the phone and find a DCA on the line, and they say that they will be recording the call, you should say that you will be too. Oddly enough, they don't seem to like this. There are some very cheap mini cassette recorders that can link in to your phone, or some ansaphones can do this, and some mobiles. Under the law, anyone can record a phone conversation, provided they inform the other party that that is what they are going to be doing. That said, changing your number is the simplest and most efficient means of stopping the calls.
Lily

dalip

Max she is a he........i think:D charlie that is.

So_Sad_Angel

Hi Snoop

Welcome Hun...sounds like you have had a rough time of late but now is time to get it sorted out. I hope that being able to post & share the intricacies of your financial situation will have helped you realise that there are so many of us who are in the middle of the process ( like me) & also have come through the `other side` (like Max of course...has he mentioned that yet???!!)

Speak to debt charities & do not pay any thing to any Company that says they will do it for you...quite frankly thats purely profiteering from the msery of debt!

If Br is the answer (which sounds likely) then post a SOA on here so that we can give you pointers as to what is acceptable in terms of monthly spending.

Main thing is have confidence that you can put this right & 2009 will be the start of a whole new life for you.

Angex

snoop1charlie

dalip wrote: »

Max she is a he........i think:D charlie that is.

Thanks Dalip!:rotfl:

I would post my real name at the end of my posts, but I am a bit wary that my ex-wife could be lurking somewhere on here.. :shhh:

snoop1charlie

I haven't been able to get my SOA together yet as I've been feeling rather poorly today with the fibromyalgia I suffer from. But just a quickie, and I think it's quite amusing.. well you can either laugh cry! I received a letter today from one of the DCA's namely BLS Collections, who collect for Lloyds TSB. This is the most significant debt of all and they have offered to reduce the debt from £19000 to £5628, which I thought 'wow, that is a vast reduction' but then I read on... 'to qualify for this amazing one-off offer' they would require 6 monthly payments of £938! The start of the letter got my hopes up, but this soon turned to dismay when I read the remainder. They are aware that I am on benefits so how on earth can they expect me to find £938 a month for six months? How wonderful it would be if I could find that amount each month, but it's totally unrealistic! Is there a method to their madness? It always seems to be that a week or so down the line after a 'nice' letter from a DCA will come a horrible and threatening letter? So I will await this with interest!

lisamummytoarchieplusbump

because of the credit crunch and all this with the govenment saying to banks help people out and give abit of leeway on payments, this is their way of looking like their helping you out as on paper it looks like a good offer but still completely unrealistic with benefits as an income.

well i had an offer from one of my creditors on a 3k debt saying they will stop court procedings if i pay £90 for 3months and then the rest of the balance. im on benefits aswell. seen as they said at first to pay the whole 3k within 7 days so it looked like they was giving me instead of a week to get the 3k they gave me 3 months.

this was before i contacted the CCCS so thought what they said was true but their scare tactics didnt work im now going br.
if they wouldnt have tried that tactic i would have still been deep in debt

LilyBart

It's just opportunistic, a quick buck, bird in the hand etc. I suspect the government-induced "fairness" policy will take more than a couple of days to implement. Will be interesting to see what the post brings from creditors over the next four weeks.

snoop1charlie

lisamummytoarchieplusbump wrote: »

because of the credit crunch and all this with the govenment saying to banks help people out and give abit of leeway on payments, this is their way of looking like their helping you out as on paper it looks like a good offer but still completely unrealistic with benefits as an income.

well i had an offer from one of my creditors on a 3k debt saying they will stop court procedings if i pay £90 for 3months and then the rest of the balance. im on benefits aswell. seen as they said at first to pay the whole 3k within 7 days so it looked like they was giving me instead of a week to get the 3k they gave me 3 months.

this was before i contacted the CCCS so thought what they said was true but their scare tactics didnt work im now going br.
if they wouldnt have tried that tactic i would have still been deep in debt

Thanks and that makes perfect sense, given the current credit crunch. It is almost laughable at the ways in which banks are apparently 'helping out their customers'. BLS Collections could have helped out a long time ago when I first got into debt with Lloyds TSB. It all started when I approached Lloyds TSB for some financial help with some debts that had accrued through heavy use of credit cards to basically get by each month. I had a one year old daughter, a 2 year old mortgage, a step-son and a wife to support on my wage alone, which wasn't fantastic at just under £800 per month. I was feeling at an all time low and vulnerable, as my marriage was already shaky... and I had the mounting debts! So I spoke to a Lloyds TSB 'financial advisor' who looked at all of my debts and he suggested a consolidation loan. On paper I was already shocked at the amount of debt that had built up and felt I had no option but to apply for the loan for £21,500... with the repayments at £404 per month (which was still cheaper than the total of the monthly repayments I was making towards my credit cards!).

In hindsight I am annoyed at how Lloyds TSB could allow me to take out such a large loan, given my low income. I felt pressurised as I was receiving a lot of hassles from creditors as far back as then. I also feel disappointed in allowing myself to be sucked into taking this loan out, as I realise now that there were other ways to deal with it.

Anyway therein lied the problem as half my salary was servicing this huge loan, and I had to again take out more credit cards just to get by each month! I did manage to persuade Lloyds TSB to reduce the monthly repayment to £200 per month, but they only did this after 12 months of first taking out the loan. However, with the added credit card repayments this still put me under a lot of financial pressure... and of course the debts snowballed from there... and my marriage ended a year later! I suffered a breakdown when my marriage ended, and was in a complete mess. I missed quite a few payments as I spiralled into depression and didn't have a clue what I was doing. Before I knew it BLS Collections then contacted me for repayment of the debt in full, which I simply couldn't do. Luckily my dad kicked me up the !!!! and got me to see the Citizens Advice Bureau, who negotiated with this DCA to accept payments of £1.00 each month until I got back on my feet. However I was in such a mess mentally and emotionally that I was made redundant from my job on medical grounds, as I was off so long on sick leave.

Over the years BLS Collections steadily increased my monthly repayments, even though I regularly sent income and expenditure statements to them. I have also done the same for all of my other creditors, with help from a charitable debt help organisation.They ceased to exist 2 years ago so I have pretty much been on my own negotiating with them. Along with the other 13 repayments I have to make, which range from £2.00 to £20.00 per month, I now quite simply cannot afford to pay all of these creditors.

I read an article last year, which appeared in one of the newspapers, that Lloyds TSB were being sued by customers who were mis-sold loans. I never really looked into, but the mis-sold loans in question relate to the year that I took out mine. I wish now that I had pursued this further, although I'm not sure how far I would have got?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I just wish Lloyds TSB, or rather BLS Collections (who I understand are the debt recovery arm of Lloyds TSB) would petition for my bankruptcy. I know this is never likely to happen, but it would save me a lot of money with the fees for BR. Realistically I know that this particular debt will never be paid off.. hence my strong consideration of going BR.